$800 bucks ! ? ! ? I hate you ! ! ! Seriously, great find and what a steal. I would definitely put all new fluids, a rotor, cap, plugs, wires, check the brake fluid and brakes and possibly bleed the brake lines. Then see if she'll fire up. If it does, just drive it and enjoy it for a while.
Robert, Can you get more info on the 55 century's for sale, are they 2 drs ,4 drs ( hardtop or sedan) thanks Bill
Why change the wiring harness? Is there anything wrong with it? Carefully unhook the wiring harness from the engine and do minor repairs if necessary. I don;t think Ron francis is going to be doing you any favors in this case. These cars were well built and engineered, with no major electro or mechanical flaws. Get it running, drive it a little, then decide what really needs fixed. It may run like a champ as-is, and you can then test the integrity of the trans, rear, brakes, and everything else before deciding to tear it down. May I suggest a resto-mod? You have one of the most beautiful factory-built cars ever made, inside and out! Some nice wheels to fit your taste, a bit of performance mods to the engine, maybe an overdrive trans and you are in phat-city!
I am as of right now, staring at it with no clue what direction to go. Trying to get her to start, turns over fine, not getting any fire. I need a guiding hand from someone who has been in my spot before. I have owned everything from a 69 Nova ss to a V8 vega wagon. This is the first car I have gotten that I don't want to F'up. I just plain ass don't know what to do with it now that I got it. I had 50 ideas in my head when I saw it, now I am just lost. Rob 903-818-6973
The very first thing I would do is vaccum that spider web off the rear package shelf! :shock: Oh, and awesome score. :TU:
check the points, and the coil + for power. then make it run! Start small by fixing items that obviously need fixing and the inspiration will come. What usually happens is we either get too enthusiastic and start rip-tearing things off, get overwhelmed and sell the pile of parts. Get the engine running and then see if it is drivable. Then fix the next thing you notice. Most of all have some fun with it right now if you can, it will inspire your efforts! You will fall in love with this car after 30-minutes behind the wheel. It will speak to you and you will know what needs to be done. First, make her LIVE!
Take some Fantastik or some Tilex and see if that mildew will come off the headliner and sail panels. The upholstery itself looks to be in good shape, just dirty. Then wipe the seats down with same, then Pledge them. My cousin used to use Pledge on all his leather interiors on his Caddies. It worked awesome. Wipe down the console, clean up the dash etc. You are too much like I was when I started the GS. I wanted it all done in a day or I was too overwhelmed at what to start on. All my friends and even my wife was like "pick something and start". The hardest thing to do, was to actually do what they said. Once I did, things went along well. Patience.
Changed the coil and set the points. Ran the gas line to a gas can to avoid any bad gas and she fired right off after sitting for over 3 years. Didn't smoke or anything. Pulled the gas tank and it had about 10 gallons of rusty gas in it. Carpet was soaking wet so pulled the seats and tore out all the old carpet and padding, floor pans look awesome. All I have to do to the engine is replace a freeze plug that was rusted thru. I was worried since the car has sat so long I was going to have to go thru the engine. Trans shifted fine when pulling it into the shop. Pulled the crap out of the trunk, no rust in the trunk pan at all. First time I ever bought a running driving classic for what I paid for it.
Sweet 65. Good luck, I thought my barn find was a score!! (see urban barn find in "members rides") Jamsco has 1", 2", & 3" lowering kits for a few hundred bucks. Its not an air suspension, just coils and shocks, but will get the job done without breaking the bank. Many here will prob disagree, but the Riv's looks so much better dropped a couple of inches. Keep the pics coming!
Ok, you got the car running! Now you know it runs. Do the freeze out plug and start cleaning that baby up for the winter. Once you get it cleaned up, take inventory and make a list of what needs replaceing and is missing. Make the car "whole". Take on one thing at a time do the glove box to perfection, check all lights and bulbs for operation including interior, dash lights, trunk and hood. Clean all interior light housing and lense, console lense are probably bad, I think 62 Impala sail panel lense are the same. Detail dash to prefection, remove all dash knobs and polish. Check and or replace brakes one axel at a time. This ought to keep you busy for a couple of weeks. If you need more just holler. We want to make that 800.00 eight-hundred and no/100 dollars car an 18,000.00 eighteen-thousand and no/100 dollars car for 5000.00 five-thousand and no/100 dollas car.
few pics of the floor pans, trunk and shop Floor pans after I pulled the carpet and padding, and the trunk. Then a couple of the shop. There are 2 of us renting the shop so it is only 125 each a month. Going to scrub the floor pans today, and still have to remove the horrid headliner. Then scrub down the inside real well and replace the jacked up freeze plug. 56 is my buddies, Mustang is my uncles and was in a barn at his farm for over 15 years, I talked him into letting me put a 302 roller in it with a 5 speed.
OK Robert: It sounds like you have a minor problem....no spark. Install a fresh set of points then check for spark at the coil wire and if you have fuel she should fire. DO THIS FIRST, then report back. Your $800 Riviera can turn into a black hole if you start talking "rebuild" "Lowering" "Wiring Harness". Let's hear from you soon, Mitch.
You have drum brakes all around, and guaranteed to be shot. Fix those = new wheel cylinders, probably a master, and shoes, then tires if you're going to drive it around. Drum tolerances will be at or beyond max, and of course, they're not available last time i checked. Plenty of upgrade kits available for a disc retrofit, 2- or 4-wheel. DFbrakes, Scarebird, etc just do a search on Whoa and the Sway. Great find, got to be steal of the year.:bglasses: :beer
update At some point in the cars life it had the entire passenger side quarter panel cut off and another one re-welded on. BUT it was a VERY long time ago because it was brazed in with lead. I have TOTALLY scraped, wire wheeled, sanded, scraped, then primed, and sealed the entire floor pans on the inside, the ENTIRE trunk the same way. Started removing ALL the bondo in the right rear between the trunk and the quarter panel. It is about 1/4 inch thick in some places. removed the headliner and all the trim around it, wire wheeled each part to bare metal, then used self etching sandable primer, then roughed that up and painted it ALL black. There were about 5 really BIG rats/mice nest under/behind rear door panels, in the trunk up in the cargo area, was nasty. I had some OLD Buick ralley wheels and spent an hour on one using a steel wool pad removing ALL rust from the chrome rime, then used NeverDull on it to polish it. Now I have to paint the black parts of the rim in the lugnut area, will look awesome on the car. Was at the shop from 5pm yesterday until 8am today. Was dang cold, glad I had a heater. This rim was rusty and had probably been in the weather about 15 years. I used steel wool and never dull and about an hour of scrubbing and polishing. Going to use these instead of the wire hubcaps.
Please post some pics of the floor pans and trunk since you cleaned them up. Sounds like you are making some good progress!
floor pans Got the floors done, were in awesome shape. Not going to use the Wire hubcaps, found a complete set of Buick rally wheels under a tree out where the old cars and school bus is, and the center car says Buick Motor Division. I had to put alot of elbow grease into cleaning up the rim but the rust on the rim lost and I won. Made sure it was going to fit before I spent another 6 hours cleaning the other 3 up. I have no idea year these rims are but they will look sharp on the Riviera with some white letter tires, like some BFG's. I have spent I KNOW a complete day on chrome with steel wool to bring it back to life and haven't even reach the halfway point on the chrome, but it is very cool that the car has so much chrome on the outside AND the inside. I did get all of the trim that goes around the headliner out, wire wheeled all the old crusty rusty paint off of it, primed it, and re-painted. Starting to shape up VERY nice. Floors before after p/s before after Trunk before and after wire hubcaps that I am not going to use and the rally wheels I found under a pine tree that I am going to use. I still have to re-paint the black section of the rims. Had to make sure they were going to fit.
